When I was a junior in high school my class read an
interesting book called “That was Then, This is Now,” by S.E. Hinton. During our reading of this book my English
teacher stopped and discussed with us an event that occurred within this book.
The book, which was set in the 1950s presents many issues including racism and the
divide between greasers and socs. Anyways in the book one of the main
characters Bryon is driving home and sees a young teenage African American girl
about his age walking home as well and with a little persuasion she accepts a
ride from him. When they get to her house there just happens to be a crowd of
African American male teens and possibly some girls to. Anyways Bryon is
dropping her off and the teens ask if Bryon hurt her or disrespected her and
she says yes and thus Bryon gets assaulted though he did nothing wrong. My
Teacher then asked us “Why do you think she lied?” Our conclusion was she was
tired of men taking advantage of her. She was tired of being grabbed, cat
called, treated like a piece of meat. No doubt this young girl was beautiful.
But what I still think about today is what my teacher asked us next. He asked
the girls in my class to raise their hands if they had ever been disrespected
by a man, and the sad thing was that almost every one of them raised their hand
and he asked them where they were when it happened. School was the answer from
most. My teacher then turned to the boys and said “How do you feel about this?
Does this anger you? Are you embarrassed?” My teacher then asked them if they
had ever been the guy that treated a girl with disrespect. I was the quiet kid
in class; the one that had finally gained her skills in English, but still wasn’t
going to speak up. I was also and still am the noticer and I knew which guys in
that room had on many occasions disrespected a girl and I saw shame on some of
their faces. I wished in that moment to know what each guy was thinking. I
quietly looked at each one and wondered how they would turn out. I wondered if
some of them would turn in to great men or not. For some I couldn’t imagine it
and for others I had no doubt. I still think back on that day sometimes. I don’t
know where some of my classmates are now or how they treat people. I don’t even
know if anyone but me remembers that day, but I will never forget it.
The Secret Voice
